


Make Believe (Is Made of This)

by veleda_k



Category: White Collar
Genre: Community: fandom_stocking, F/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-09
Updated: 2013-01-09
Packaged: 2017-11-24 06:59:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/631693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veleda_k/pseuds/veleda_k
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In moments like these, Kate thinks reality is better than fantasy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Make Believe (Is Made of This)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FloraStuart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloraStuart/gifts).



> Written for Florastuart, for Fandom Stocking

Kate was lying on the bed reading when Neal came in, carrying an armful of dresses. “I've secured us an invite for the Winter's party next Saturday,” he said as a greeting.

Kate looked up. “I'm assuming that's connected to the fact that you brought half a boutique into our room?”

Neal lay the dresses across the bed. “Pick out something you think a countess would wear.”

Kate set aside her book and stood up. “I'm going to be a countess, then?”

“The Condesa de Ripilda,” he said, his accent flawless. “How's your Spanish?”

“I took French,” she informed him flatly.

He grinned. “We'll get you a phrase book, and you can fake it.”

Ignoring that for the moment, Kate examined the dresses. “I don't think a countess would wear any of these, since they're fakes.” She thought longingly of the clothes she had had while working for Adler. They hadn't been the height of luxury, but they would have sufficed. She had sold them, hoping to use the money to keep her apartment, but now both the evening wear and the roomy apartment had gone the way of her job and her life savings.

Neal shrugged. “We can't afford the real thing yet, and it was both quicker and subtler to buy knockoffs from Two-Bit Manny then to steal everything we need. No one at the party will be able to tell the difference.” 

“Two-Bit Manny is one of Mozzie's contacts, isn't he?”

“How did you guess?” 

“Because only Mozzie knows people with names like 'Two-Bit Manny.'” She picked up a shimmery silver gown that was not Yves St. Laurent, whatever the label claimed. “I'll wear this one. With blue accents. We'll steal some sapphires or make some fake ones.” It still felt a little strange to talk so casually about breaking the law. But this was her world now, and Kate had never been the squeamish type. She glanced at Neal. His eyes were fixed on her, and he looked as if he hadn't heard a word she had said. “What?”

He smiled at her, besotted. “I'm imagining what you'll look like.” He curled an arm around her waist. “You're so beautiful.”

Kate dropped her head on his shoulder. “Mozzie doesn't think I'm ready for this.” The worry had been gnawing at her. If she wasn't ready, she could land them all in jail.

Neal shook his head. “Mozzie's a worrier. It's what he does. If he wasn't freaking out at least a little, _then_ I'd be concerned. Hey.” He tilted her chin up and looked at her intently. “You'll be brilliant. Condesa de Ripilda will be the highlight of the evening.”

Kate cheered a little. Neal had that effect. “Why would a countess even show up at one of Melvin Winter's parties?”

“A real one wouldn't. But Winter and his guests will be desperate to believe otherwise. They'll want to feel special and important. And we're going to give them that.” He caressed her cheek. “That's what we do: we give people what they want.”

Kate smiled wryly. “In exchange for a hefty fee.”

“It's a living,” Neal replied, matching her smile.

Kate wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “And who will you be?”

“Your boy toy,” Neal answered saucily. 

Kate grinned widely. “No, I mean for the con.”

Neal laughed and kissed her. “This is going to work.” He sounded absolutely confident.

“What if it doesn't?”

Neal shrugged. “If it doesn't work, then we go to a party and have free champagne and salmon puffs. But if it does work, if we can get those key codes, then you'll never wear another knockoff dress again.” He drew her close. “I'm going to give you everything. Every desire you've ever had, every whim you've ever considered.”

“Head in the clouds,” she said fondly. “Right now, I want you,” she whispered. “Pretend I'm a countess.” 

He slid his hands up the back of her shirt. “My lady,” he murmured, and when he said it, it didn't like pretend; it didn't feel like a game. She kissed him fiercely, and they half walked, half stumbled to the bed. Kate started to wriggle out of her clothes, but Neal stopped her. “Let me,” he insisted softly. 

He slowly removed her clothing piece by piece, letting his hands linger on her skin. It was agonizingly slow, but just when Kate thought she couldn't wait any longer, he kissed her gently. “Soon,” he promised, barely loud enough to be heard.

When she was completely nude, the cool air drawing goosebumps along her skin, she looked up at him. “You're still wearing clothes.”

He kissed her again. “We can fix that.” He removed his own clothing, not as slow as he had been with her, but still methodical and deliberate. Kate let out a tiny moan when he finally slipped off his boxers. She reached out to touch his cock, but he placed his hand over hers. “Your turn first,” he told her. He bent down and put his mouth to her breasts, circling his tongue around her nipple just the way she liked. Then, he crooked a finger and slid it between her legs. Kate's fingers clenched the sheets. Neal added another finger, and began to move languorously inside her. Between his mouth on her breasts and his fingers in her cunt, Kate thought she might go mad from sensation. She was wet, aching, and so damn turned on.

When Neal pulled his fingers out, Kate couldn't keep herself from whimpering. “No, please, more.”

Neal caressed her hair with his clean hand. “Just changing positions.” He lifted her hips and pushed inside her. Kate groaned. Neal's fingers had been deft and precise, but his cock was good in a different way. She felt filled, and there was a sense of connection, not better than fingers or tongue, but a feeling all its own.

It took them a minute or so to find the right rhythm, but soon Kate was moving in time with Neal's thrusts.

“Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.” Neal kept repeating himself until Kate could no longer make out the individual words.

“I love you,” she told him, because she did, even though she didn't say it very often, and he should know, even if it was the sex loosening her tongue.

His expression lit up, and she thought he might come from that alone. As it was, it only took him a couple more thrusts to finish. He kissed her neck as he pulled out, then gave them both a moment to recover before sliding his fingers back inside her. She was so close to the edge that he only had to circle her clit a few times before she came.

Smiling, Neal pulled her close, and she snuggled up to him. She frowned mildly. “Do real countesses have to sleep on sticky sheets?”

“No, they have servants for that,” Neal replied. “Do you want me to change the sheets?”

Kate held him tighter. “No, you'd have to get up. You're not allowed to get up.”

Neal chuckled. “Okay. Would you like servants?” he asked, stroking her hair. “We could have servants.”

Kate smiled. “In our villa in France?”

“I was thinking Italy, but France is good too.”

Blinking sleepily, Kate checked the bedside clock and sighed. “If I fall asleep now, I'm going to wake up in the middle of the night.”

Neal kissed her. “Then we'll have midnight sex to tire you out again.”

Kate laughed. “Works for me.”

Something about the scene felt right, Kate thought. Two con artists in curled up in their tiny bedroom, surrounded by knockoff designer wear. It fit them, maybe even more than a villa in France. Kate turned to share her thoughts with Neal, but he had already fallen asleep. Kate gave a tiny shrug.

Warm in Neal's arms, she slept too.


End file.
